‘Community’ Season 4 Possibly Not the Last, Says NBC Boss

As streets ahead as the new 'Community' show-runners Moses Port and David Gurascio showing up at Comic-Con 2012 to quell fan fears about the show may have been, there are still plenty of unanswered questions. Chief among them is how 'Community' will fare in the move to Friday nights, and whether its 13-episode order will be the last we see of the Greendale gang, so what did NBC head Bob Greenblatt have to say recently?

Once again, it seems all hands are on deck to assure 'Community' fans that Dan Harmon's departure and the show's move to Friday nights don't necessarily spell doom for our favored Greendale seven. Speaking at the Television Critics Association press tour today, NBC president Bob Greenblatt did his best to assure people that 'Community' will still represent the "same show" even under new heads Moses Port and David Guarascio.

Talking specifically on Harmon's rather public exit from the series, Greenblatt told reporters:

I think the fans of 'Community' are going to get the same show that they have loved from the beginning. Every so often, it’s time to make a change with the show-runner. You sort of evaluate the creative and how the show is run and how the writing staff works… [and] sometimes you want to freshen the show. We just decided it was time to do that on 'Community.' No disrespect to anyone.

Greenblatt further explained NBC's evolving approach to comedies, in that the network continues to attempt to reach a broader audience, many drawing comparisons to CBS' immense success with the three-camera sitcom while NBC's critically-acclaimed single cameras garner far lower ratings. As for the move to Friday nights, infamously known as the "Friday Night Death Slot" (though it should be known that many series have broken this curse, including NBC's own 'Grimm,' Greenblatt went on:

We’re in a transition with our comedy programming. Those Thursday comedies, which the critics love and we love, tend to be a bit more narrow than we would ultimately like as we go forward. 'Community' has always been on the bubble, and we decided to bring it back and see what a fourth season will do for us.

But will a fourth season of 'Community' under new show-runners and a new night spell the end of the critically-adored series? ”I would love nothing more than for 'Community' to have a following on Friday and continue,” says Greenblatt. Fans continue to hold their breath.

What say you? Do the NBC boss' words comfort you on 'Community' season 4? What would you most like to see happen with the oft-troubled series? Sound off in the comments below!